Emergency service crisis

BREAKDOWNS: ALARM OVER SHORTAGES OF AMBULANCES, FIRE ENGINES

Concern over high number of accidents, delays in servicing, repairing vehicles.

Gauteng is experiencing a shortage of emergency vehicles, and this may put the lives of citizens in danger due to delays in responding to emergencies.

This came to light after Motalatale Modiba, chief communication director of the Gauteng health department, raised concern over an increase in ambulance accidents.

Democratic Alliance shadow health MEC Jack Bloom pointed out health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi had revealed 350 out of 1 244 ambulances were out of action due to maintenance and repairs.

According to Mokgethi, the nonoperational ambulances were due to scheduled services, accident repairs and unplanned maintenance due to breakdowns.

“Delays occur in repairing ambulances because of quotations from multiple service providers, inspecting the damage and getting authorisations for repairs and merchant outsourcing of parts,” she said.

Modiba said Gauteng Emergency Medical Services (EMS) followed terms and conditions of a contractor on repairs and maintenance.

“There’s continuous engagement with the service provider to ensure vehicles are repaired on time. The Gauteng EMS attends to every call it receives that comes through the [Emergency Communication Centre], through ambulances, primary response cars, rescue vehicles and training college vehicles,” Modiba said.

Last year, there were 167 reported accidents of emergency ambulances, compared to 79 cases the year before, with 68 disciplinary cases for misconduct and final warnings. It cost about R5.5 million to repair the accident damage of the past two years.

Bloom is concerned about the unavailability of the ambulances.

“I am concerned by the high number of accidents and the long delays in servicing and repairing ambulances when they are needed to provide an emergency service for the province,” he said.

The national norms and standards state that Gauteng should have 1 600 ambulances to serve its population, but it only has 894 presently available because nearly 30% of ambulances are stuck in the repair shops.

Modiba said the department had measures in place to try and address this dire situation.

“We are reviewing the current driver training programme to meet the [Sector Education and Training Authority] standards,” said Modiba.

“We have stringent pre-employment criteria, such as driver assessment before employment and installed tracking devices in 2019 to monitor driver behaviour, which is aimed at helping us identify areas of shortcomings and introduce intervention mechanisms.”

There is also a fire engine crisis in the City of Joburg – with only seven operational fire engines to service the city at the moment.

EMS spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said that at this stage, seven engines are not enough.

“Ideally, with the 31 stations all over Johannesburg, we should have at least one working fire engine in each station to extinguish fires. Alas, we have to utilise what we have now,” he said.

He said there were plans in motion to try and solve this issue.

“We will also be focusing on having the vehicles back as soon as possible to ensure that they are back on the road to fight fires,” said Mulaudzi.

Although the turnaround time to a fire call is between 15 to 30 minutes, Mulaudzi said it would take longer to assist at this stage due to the shortage.

Additional reporting by Rosebank Killarney Gazette

350 out of 1 244 ambulances out of action